Ricky Schroder

Richard Bartlett Schroder (born April 13, 1970) is an American actor and filmmaker.

As a child actor billed as Ricky Schroder he debuted in the film The Champ (1979), for which he became the youngest Golden Globe award recipient, and went on to become a child star on the sitcom Silver Spoons (1982–87).

Schroder made his film debut as the son of Jon Voight's character in The Champ, a 1979 remake of the 1931 film of the same title.

He was nominated for, and subsequently won, a Golden Globe award in 1980 for Best New Male Star of the Year in a Motion Picture, becoming at age nine the youngest Golden Globe winner in history.

Following his role in The Champ, Schroder was removed from school by his parents in the third grade to focus on his career.

He moved to Los Angeles with his mother, but his father remained in New York City and kept his job with AT&T.

The following year, Schroder appeared in the Disney feature film The Last Flight of Noah's Ark, with Elliott Gould.

He also starred as the title character in Little Lord Fauntleroy, alongside Alec Guinness.

Schroder then became well known as the star of the television series Silver Spoons.

He played a starring role as Ricky Stratton, the son of a wealthy and eccentric millionaire, Edward Stratton.

His performance earned him two Young Artist Awards.

He struggled with his identity as an actor when Silver Spoons ended.

Prospective roles were rare, and he was mainly designated to play boyish-looking teenagers or blond-haired heartthrobs.

Schroder avoided the vices of other child actors and attempted to establish himself as a more mature actor, dropping the "y" from his first name.

His mother enrolled him in Calabasas High School, but Schroder had trouble adjusting to the new environment.

In 1988, a year after Silver Spoons ended, Schroder starred in a prime time CBS TV movie based on a true story, the drama Too Young the Hero, as 12-year-old Calvin Graham who passes for 17 to enlist in World War II.

He also appeared as the guest timekeeper in Wrestlemania 2 for a match between Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy.

After graduating from high school, Schroder enrolled in Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado.

His co-starring role in the Western miniseries Lonesome Dove and its sequel, Return to Lonesome Dove, helped him to be recognized in more mature roles.

He has continued acting as an adult, usually billed as Rick Schroder, notably in the Western miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989) and on the police drama series NYPD Blue (1998–2001).

Schroder married Andrea Bernard on September 26, 1992.

They have four children: Holden, Luke, Cambrie, and Faith.

In the fall of 2002 he hosted The New American Sportsman on ESPN2, a remake of the 1965–1986 outdoor TV series The American Sportsman.

He made his directorial debut with the film Black Cloud (2004) and has produced several films and television series, including the anthology film Locker 13 and the war documentary The Fighting Season.

Schroder was born in Brooklyn, New York City and raised on Staten Island, the son of Diane Katherine Bartlett and Richard John Schroder, both former employees of AT&T.

His paternal grandparents were German immigrants.

Schroder's mother quit her job to raise him and his sister Dawn.

As a child, Schroder appeared in many catalogs, and by age six, he had appeared in 60 advertisements.

Schroder made his directorial debut in 2004 with the feature film Black Cloud, a drama also written by him about a Navajo boxer.

Black Cloud received positive receptions at film festivals, including two awards at the Phoenix Film Festival and Best Director award for Schroder at the San Diego Film Festival.

He also directed and starred in the music video for "Whiskey Lullaby", a song by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss.

The video garnered Schroder an award for Best Music Video at the 2005 Nashville Film Festival, while at the 2005 CMT Music Awards, the video won an award for Collaborative Video of the Year, and Schroder won for Director of the Year.

His roles as Danny Sorenson on three seasons of NYPD Blue, nurse Paul Flowers in Scrubs, Dr. Dylan West on Strong Medicine, and Mike Doyle on the 2007 season of 24 worked to cement that perception with the viewing audience.

In 2009, he directed the adventure horror film Hellhounds.

He guest-starred in a January 2011 episode of ABC's No Ordinary Family.

With his production company, Ricky Schroder Productions, he produced Starting Strong, a series of recruiting commercials for the U.S. Army shot as reality series in 2013.

His production company has well as other documentaries The Fighting Season, My Fighting Season, and The Volunteers.

In 2013 he directed, produced, and starred in the TV film Our Wild Hearts for the Hallmark Channel, and the following year co-produced and starred in the anthology film Locker 13. He portrayed the father of Dolly Parton in the 2015 TV film Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors and its sequel, Dolly Parton's Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love.

They all appeared in Schroder's Our Wild Hearts (2013). In 2000, Schroder joined his wife's church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Schroder spent 110 days in Afghanistan with the US military in 2014 to capture footage.